Kevin Kilbane believes the defeat at Fulham was one of the most shattering blows of Sunderland's season so far.

But he insisted the Black Cats won't give up fighting for Premiership survival.

Defeat means Sunderland have now lost six Premiership games in a row - their worst losing streak in a decade - and are still seven points from safety with only nine games remaining.

Kilbane said: "There have been a lot of disappointments this season but that felt like one of the worst because we worked ever so hard.

"Every player gave everything and to be caught like that at the end was a kick in the teeth.

"We should not have lost the game. We were on top for most of it and made more than enough chances.

"We didn't find the right finish and the ball didn't drop in the right place for us when we needed it to.

"We restricted them to only two real chances and we kept on carving them open.

"We just needed to get that one goal which might have kicked us on to get another one.

"We know how hard it is going to be to get out of this and we're being written off by a lot of people.

"But there are 27 points left to play for and if we can continue performing like we did on Saturday we can get out of it. We won't just roll over and die." Kilbane turned in a man-of-the-match performance at Loftus Road but admits the whole team still needs to improve if they are to stay in the top flight.

He said: "We have to find a bit more from somewhere if we're going to stay in the Premiership.

"The fans are sick of seeing defeats and we're sick of losing games.

"The supporters were magnificent at Fulham and they don't deserve to be rewarded with these results.

"With us having a break now, we can perhaps rest our legs a little bit.

"But there will definitely be hard days in training because we know there's plenty of work to do."